Merry Christmas! 

Yum!

Here is my gingerbread house! As you may have read on Claire's blog, Pari and I went to her house to build these yummy creations. We did a little graham cracker house for Joshua to decorate, but he was more interested in eating the candy than putting it on his house!

The most popular joint in town. 

Nate and Brad (Yes, they are wearing aprons...)

Behold Bountiful Blessings Below

-God's everlasting love and patience
-Nate (of course)
-Our new house!
-books
-our cats
-a guest room (come one come all!)
-a family room with a tv
-a living room without a tv
-a fire place
-candles
-the ocean
-friendships
-Blogs
-snow up north (and not here!)
-coffee (and creamer to make the coffee good.)
-good movies and music
-letting myself listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving
-my pillow
-forgiveness
-colors
-wind chimes
-cat paws and purrs
-this list instilling a thankful heart in me
-my wedding ring
-my family
-inside jokes
-clocks, but not always having to live by them
-pictures and memories
-the Bible
-the Truth
-God's grace
-roses (my favorite flower!)
-the hard times that come along to make us stronger
-answered prayers

A Peek Into Our Windows

As far as settling in goes, sometimes I feel like I am swimming in a sea of boxes and junk with my head barely above water. There are items that I have even unpacked and wondered why I bothered packing it and where in the world I am going to put it! Every once in a while Nate will holler out in frustration, "Let's throw away all of our stuff!"

Grandpa has been a happy resident of our basement for almost two weeks now. He's incredibly easy to please for meals. Partly because he puts either vinegar or BBQ sauce on just about everything and then compliments me on my cooking ability. He has done some raking for us and he loves being outside in this GA weather. Being a lover of children, he's been walking the street introducing himself to some of the local urchins, carefully writing their names down on a pad of paper he keeps in his pocket. He's getting a little deaf though, so when we are reading Friday emails together WE HAVE TO YELL! YES, WE HAVE VERY PEACEFUL SABBATH MEETINGS!

It has been so very fun having my family less than two hours away. Mom and I went shopping together this week, as did Claire and I. Claire even popped over to borrow some flour! What I love is that after we are all done being together there isn't a long drive at the end for someone. Hooray!

Have any of you seen the new nickels? There is one that I love. On the back, with a view of the ocean it says, "Ocean in view! O! The joy!" Hmm. Now that's a cheap Christmas idea for me...!

We're Home!

Let's see if I can remember how to Blog. It's been a while!

We are safely moved into our new home. I love it more and more every day. The cat's love having two stories to race around in, too! I love having my own laundry room. I love having four bathrooms. (I might not, though once I've had to clean them all over and over.) I love having a master bathroom and a walk-in closet in our room. I love our garage door opener, too!

We still have boxes piled up everywhere, but I'm taking my time opening them. I should be hard at work now, but this is the first time in more than a week that we've had internet access, so here I am, being lazy.

So, yes, we are still in the land of the living and loving the Georgia sunshine and warmth. It's still short sleeve weather down here! Yeehaw!

All I Can Say is, "Wow!"

After a busy week of driving south with Brad and Claire and going house shopping, we seem to have found a winner! After a little negotiating, we've come to an agreement with the owners on a reasonable price. The next step is the inspection report this week and then closing in a couple of weeks. We are so excited and overwhelmed by God's leading. His timing and guidance are perfect as always.
The icing on the cake is that we are in the same neighborhood as Brad and Claire and less than a mile away from them and 15 minutes from church! Woohoo!
We have lots of room for guests! Come on down!

God is good. Yesterday. Today. Forever. 

Nate captured this shot when we went to the ocean last weekend to watch Ophelia's impact on the waves. 

Life

I'm taking a break from scrubbing the kitchen floor on my hands and knees. This job is one among many that need to be done in the next two weeks. Sometimes when I'm cleaning here in the apartment, I feel like I take two steps forward and one step back. There is always something to be done! It never ends! We are not the types to sit on the couch with our hands folded. We LIVE here and therefore it gets messy. Sigh. At least the busier I am the faster time will go until we get to go to Georgia and look for a HOUSE! Hooray! I know, I know, I'll have more to clean. That's okay, though. I consider that a pleasant problem!

Yesterday Nate and I went to Providence with Paul and Laura. We walked around for a bit trying to find a place to have brunch. We failed, but ended up at a nice place for sandwiches. We even jaywalked right in front of three cops in our quest for good food. Woohoo. Life on the edge!

This morning in my Bible reading I read in 2 Chronicles about King Amaziah who, "did right in the sight of Jehovah, yet not with a whole heart." My prayer is that in all that I do for God whether just being a housewife or when Grandpa moves in with us in GA, or whatever else comes my way, I will serve God with all of my heart and with a good attitude.

That said, the laundry and the kitchen floor are calling me! Hooray!

This beautiful rose is from my Aunt Glady's yard in California. 

Sigh.

We made it home in one piece!

Daddy dropped the four of us off at the airport last week, full of energy and ready for the job ahead. Yesterday, he picked us up at the airport, mere shadows of our former selves dragging our luggage wearily behind us.

I slept for a solid 14 hours and could have slept longer, but figured I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. I love our bed. It is the most comfortable bed in the whole world and I'm glad to be home to it.

So, now we recover and rest up from the job of cleaning out Grandpa's house and start thinking ahead to our trip to Georgia to find a home. Please pray about this next step. It looks big, but we know that God has something just right set aside for us. Thank you also, those of you who prayed for us while we were in California. Those prayers made a difference, we could tell and we appreciate them and you.

Time to Say Goodbye

Wow.

We have been SO busy, as I'm sure most of you have read from Claire's blog. I have so many memories of this place. I was baptized in the pool out back, I've watched Grandpa make Charlie-dolls, I've played by the creek, I've worked in the garden, I've swung down the pole into the family room countless times, I've lain on the couch next to the organ listening to Grandpa play by the hour, I've had Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners here on Grandma's china, I've roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire while watching the "cool" people play volleyball, and sometimes they even let me play, I helped Grandpa clean the house and care for Grandma when her memory and her ability to walk failed her. The list goes on...

I'm thankful for all of the pictures we have of these memories and I'm thankful for the week of hilarity that we've had, and, yes, even my cold, because it helps take my mind off of leaving. So, now, this is my last night here at Grandpa and Grandma's house. We have a busy day tomorrow, finishing packing up the boxes to be shipped and cleaning up last minute trash. Thank you for letting me take this time to remember.

Imagine my surprise when I opened a cupboard to sort through pictures and found this one on top! He's been perched on the mantle ever since! 

Home Again! (for now)

After almost two weeks in NH staying with my Grandpa while Dad and Mom were away, I'm once again sitting in my own chair, with my own husband right here, and with my own cats running around. Even after leaving Nate for this long to his own devices he still loves me! Roses and baloons were waiting for me on the table and he brought chinese food home for dinner! This bliss will be short-lived though, because we leave on Saturday with Brad and Claire to go work our heads off in Gpa's house. My fortune cookie said, "You are given the chance to take part in an exciting adventure." How true.

On the spam front, I've been mildly annoyed at the stupid comments and finally changed the settings to only allow bloggers to comment. However, I have also received one mildly profane comment and decided, especially since I know some children who read my blog, to change the settings again so that you have to identify a word to comment. I appreciate your patience and continue to welcome and even wait with bated breath for comments from those I know and love!

"Oh, Atlanta, I hear you calling..."

Well, I think most of you know that Nate and I have been praying for a long time about moving to Georgia! We feel God leading us there and we are very excited! We will be buying a home, because the market is good down there right now and we plan on Grandpa Pass living with us for a while.

So, as Claire mentioned in her blog, there are a few things that we have to do first. Fly to CA with them and clean out Grandpa's house. Around 50 years of belongings to go through, so you can pray for speedy work and easy decisions on what to keep and what to throw away and what to give away. Anybody want to come lend a hand?

We are also planning a trip to GA in October to scope out houses. You can pray that will go smoothly as well. I keep saying, "When I grow up and own a house, I want..." I guess that time is quickly coming!

Overall, even with the busy schedule ahead of us, we are excited and God's hand has been in all of the events up until now leading the way to the south! We will miss our friends up north, but not the snow. Y'all are welcome to come down for a visit!

Evan and Jill invited Grandpa and me over to supper a couple of nights ago and I had fun taking pictures of their children and animals! 

Grampa-sitting!

I'm at Fairwood this week, until next Wednesday staying with my Grandfather (on my Dad's side) while Daddy and Mom are exploring the southern regions of our fair nation. Things have been going well so far. He has been incredibley grateful at the end of each meal for the work I have put into preparing them. He's easy to cook for because he's happy with whatever you put in front of him, which is good for me!

He has a huge collection of videos and it has become our habit for him to bring one out from his sitting room for us to watch together after dinner. So far, we've watched old Touched By An Angel episodes and last night we watched an old Cary Grant movie called Father Goose.

One evening we were sitting at the table in Mom and Dad's kitchen quietly eating dinner when I looked out the window and spotted Megan on the roof of the main house! She apparently climbed up to fetch a frisbee that has been there for months! Grandpa and I scurried to the window peering out eagerly to make sure that she came back down safely. She did, no worries, as nimbly as can be. It's been two days and G-pa is still talking about it. He even ventured out to claim the frisbee as a souveneir! I need to figure out a good way of suggesting that he return it!

After church today, I took him with me to visit my Grandma (on my mom's side). I was a little nervous about the visit, but they hit it off, leaning toward each other and bellowing about their infirmities as old people and coming to the conclusion together that it's best to Count Your Blessings no matter what stage of life you are in. Growing old is not for sissies.

I dashed outside in my pj's this morning to get this picture! 

With a name like this...

During the Red Sox's rain delay on Sunday afternoon, I had the tv turned down low until the game came back on. My ears perked up, though, when I heard the name of one of the Dodger's pitchers, Brad Penny!

Closet Nerd

Nate and I were both sick yesterday with food poisoning. Yuck. And yes, we had Subway after church at the same time that Andrea did. Hmm...something's rotten in the state of Rhode Island.

I think I had a fever last night and you know how dreams can get when you are sick! Let me back up first, though, so you know why my dreaming was weird. I've been watching NASA TV every day while the shuttle Discovery has been in space. It's been fascinating watching the space walks and other activities that they have been up to. I've also been impressed with how courteous and friendly the astronauts and the people on the ground have been with each other. They don't let little things bug them and don't express frustration when things go wrong. Oh, to be more like an astronaut! I even got up early yesterday to watch the shuttle land and when it didn't, I got up early again this morning. Brad says that I'm a nerd. Oh well. So, all of this to say that the shuttle has been very much on my mind.

I've also been playing a lot of backgammon on the computer. That's the game where you have to move your tokens around the board and if you don't have them in stacks of two or more the other guy can swoop in and land on you. Every time I close my eyes, I see these little tokens on the board. Yes, I know this is a sign of having played it too much. When I get over this food poisoning I'll stop...really.

So, last evening I went to bed early, partly because I was still feeling awful and partly because I knew I was getting up super early. In my confused feverish dream, I was on the shuttle, which was also our apartment. I was sick, in my sleepwear and trying to make sure that the tokens were all stacked so that we would land safely. I also knew that there were cameras set up so that the world could watch us in space and I was concerned that the next time I got up to rush to the bathroom to toss my cookies, that the whole world would see me in my pj's. So, I partially woke up and called to Nate to come in to the bedroom and told him calmly and courteously, like the astronauts, that if he could please get me some clothes to wear for when the shuttle lands I would really appreciate it. He informed me that I was not making any sense and that I had just used space shuttle and clothes in the same sentence! That's when I really woke up and realized that I had been dreaming. Poor Nate.

Walking My Cats

I have always believed that cats should be able to come in and out as they want. You don't have to have a litterbox for one thing, and when they start bouncing off the walls inside you can shoo them out to work off their extra energy. The coyotes that lurk in our local woods have changed my mind. Nate and I have had five cats in the four years that we've been married. We have two now, Stuart and Melvin. One cat, Cappy, we gave away. The other two, Sadie and Sophie, each went out to play and never came home. So, the decision was made for us that Stuart and Melvin would be inside cats. Poor fellows. A new idea came to me, however, that this didn't always have to be the case. They have cat harnesses now which you can attach a leash to so that you can take your cats out to play without any danger!

The first time I put the harnesses on the cats, they were not happy. One part wraps gently around the neck and the other wraps around the chest and the whole thing connects at the top of the shoulder blades. Our silly cats tried everything they could think of to get the things off. Crawling with their bellies on the floor, rolling onto their backs and even walking backwards! The next step was the leash and then convincing them to go outside with this whole getup. Once we got them outside, we quickly discovered as we followed our exploring cats around the yard that a four foot leash wasn't long enough. So, now we have those fancy leashes that extend as they move around the yard.

Cats are not dogs. They go under, into and around things chasing bugs and leaves. So, sometimes we have untangling to do! A lot of the time, they just lie down enjoying their pseudo freedom. One of the Brown's cats likes to come and lie down a few feet away, almost as if he's flaunting his true freedom. Cats, as you all know, are very independent and they don't come when you call them unless they happen to feel like it. So when it's time to go in, you have to plead and cajole and tug on the leash (gently, of course) until you finally have to just give up and pick them up and bring them in.

When the Brown's dogs first came down I was scared to death. All I could picture, as they carefully approached the cats, was a cartoon-like whirling dust-cloud at the end of the leash with fur flying everywhere! Thankfully, this was not the case. There was tentative sniffing, some eager tail-wagging from the canines and some fearful back-stepping from the felines and then some sort of agreement to peacefully co-exist. I was even more nervous when the Brown's cat came down, but that was an even more peaceful greeting. Maybe they just all feel sorry for these poor pitiful tethered creatures. I certainly feel silly sometimes babying my cats this way. I don't want to lose them, though.

Brad and Claire were house-sitting for Brad's boss and they graciously invited us to spend an evening with them there. Swimming, paddling and general hilarity ensued. 

Ramblings

It's been a while, eh? Let's see...what's been going on?

Nate and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on the 14th. We went to Maine, as usual, and went shopping in Kittery and Freeport. We even did some yard saling on Friday! We didn't spend a whole lot of money, just enjoyed being together and browsing. I'm definitely lucky that my husband enjoys shopping with me!

Um, what else...

The power was out for a while last night. We had to listen to the Red Sox game on Nate's wind up radio instead of watch it on TV. Poor pitiful us. Actually, it was super annoying to come home from a long day at work to no power. Grrr.

So, I'm sure you're all thrilled. Today the excitement included sorting out my glasses and mugs cupboard. Woohoo.

Paul had an excellent church service on Sunday. It was like he was reading exactly what has been on my heart and mind recently. He talked about Faith. One of the verses we turned to was where the man says to Jesus, "I do believe, but help my unbelief." Sometimes this is where we are. Nate and I have been praying about our future and where it might lead us. I keep reminding myself to trust that God has our lives laid out perfectly and that He cares more about our future than we do. Sometimes when discouraging things come along, or when our dreams for the future crumble it's hard to believe and keep going. I know that God is good. He loves me. I do believe, help my unbelief.

There you have it. I hope my ramblings haven't put you to sleep! Now I'm off to walk on the treadmill for a while. Yes, the excitement continues.

(I just ran spell check on this and it wanted me to replace Nate with NATO. Hmmm.)

Why?

Nate and I were on the road a few days ago driving home when we spotted this guy on the side of the road walking and pulling his bicycle along with him. The road was level and it was a beautiful day so we were both puzzled as to why he wasn't riding! Wouldn't it be easier? So, then we came up with some excuses for him:

~ Maybe he had a flat tire.
~ Maybe he actually doesn't know how to ride.
~ Maybe he had saddle sores.
~ Maybe, partway through his ride, he forgot how!

Any other ideas?

Yet another scenic vista. 

I hope you are not getting tired of rose updates! 

You know you live in New England when...

Over the loudspeaker at the store you hear the announcement "Please come to our wicked fancy shoe sale..."

Peter ready to launch the ball deep into the outfield! 

Father's Day!

First of all, my Dad is the best in the world and I love him very much. He is such a good example of my Heavenly Father. He stays upbeat, even when life is rough. So, Daddy, if you are reading this, I love you. Thank you for being such a great and loving Dad.

I think it's time for new glasses. This morning in church we were singing along and there was a line in one of the songs about rubies. At first glance, I thought it said rabies. Yep. I'm a child of the King with rabies!

Today, Husband's Day in our home, was celebrated quietly. As soon as Nate got up this morning he opened the box of tools that he picked out a month ago for me to buy him. Power tools are the way to a man's heart. Only, I was worried he was going to lose an eye or a finger as he was playing with them.... After church we had a very quiet afternoon and then a really nice dinner at Chello's on the Waterfront. We shivered out on the patio and watched a few brave boats while the sun set. And now, my hero of a husband, is pawing through garbage bags looking for a rebate receipt that he accidentally threw away!

Melvin being cute! 

My rose is growing!  

An Upgrade, June Bugs and a Bee Sting

I've been at Fairwood for the past couple of days to be a support for Mom while Daddy was having his pacemaker "upgraded." This is the actual term they used in the hospital! He is now hooked up with two wires instead of one. I guess this means that I have a battery operated father! This new gizmo is also likely to increase his energy and he'll feel a lot better overall. He's home now and on the mend. Huge sighs of relief all the way around. To those of you who were praying, I thank you.

Last evening, Daddy spent the night at the hospital and after mom went to bed, I got on the Internet for a while. I was sitting at the kitchen table on my laptop when I heard the infamous noisy buzzing and sloppy flying of a June bug. I hate those things! They give me the creeps like nothing else...except the needles at the hospital...Anyway, I picked up my computer and fled to the safety of mom's chair, warily eyeing the beast and praying that Max, my parents' cat, would come and eat it. I lost track of it after a while and just went to bed. This evening, mom and I were sitting at the table playing a game, when another June bug came in and after Max played with it for a little while and I freaked out for a little while, mom calmly slapped a phone book on the stupid thing...I'm supposed to be here supporting her and she has to "save" me from a measly little bug? Pathetic, I know.

This morning, mom and I were getting ready to go to the hospital to pick up Daddy, and saw a bee buzzing around the window trying to find a way out. Max, ever curious, decided that this bee was a lovely new toy to be conquered and played with and ran over to the window sill to catch it, batting at it furiously. Well, you guessed it. Max discovered in a hurry that bees are not friendly when they are cornered and jumped from the window sill alternately shaking his paw and licking it. Poor Maxie-boy!

To top off this whole stress-free week, we've had two rip-snorting thunderstorms in the three nights that I've been here. It's amazing how loud the thunder is around here when it echos off the mountain. I was literally startled right out of my chair a couple of nights ago, it was so loud!

Here is another picture from the Cape...Oh, to be there now... 

A Good Day

Nate and I have had a good day off. We started the day doing major cleaning and tossing. Nate in the office and me in the kitchen. We were both so into our work that we forgot to eat until about 1 which was too late because we had to get ready to go to town to get the A/C fixed in my car. (When I told Brad while we were IM-ing earlier today, he told me that A/C is for wimps. I freely admit my wimpiness).

We decided that we should only take one car, because surely it wouldn't take too long for them to take care of our car and we could walk across the street and grab a bite to eat while we were waiting. Wrong. The place was teeming with people so we had to kill a little more time than we thought. We went to Applebees first and then to several stores. My husband is an awesome shopper. I am very lucky. After going to the dollar store which he enjoyed he then, without complaint, followed me patiently around a fabric store, a craft store and the Christmas Tree Shop. What a guy, huh?

After we picked up the car, we ran a couple of more errands and headed home. On our way home though, we stopped at an old cemetery. This is the second time we've done this and it's very fascinating to me to see these really old graves and wonder about the people buried there. Last time we went, we saw the grave of a woman buried in the 1800's with at least four smaller stones nearby where she had buried her children before her. I can't imagine the heartache.

Then (I know this is getting long, but I'm almost done), we stopped by the side of the road where a man had his telescope set up and he showed us an eagle's nest with two 9 week old eagles inside!!!

So, now we are home and Nate has fired up the grill so that we can have a delicious meal, and we are watching the Red Sox. Life is good.

Tidbits

Whoever said that animals are good for your blood pressure didn't know ours. Every morning, they feel the need to work out the kinks of a good night's sleep by racing around our apartment at top speeds with our valuables crashing behind them.

A couple of weeks ago 4 year old Amanda won some bubbles from me. She enjoyed them immensely running in and out with them through the day. At one point, I overheard her talking to herself as she was lining up the bottle of bubbles and the wands together, preparing for another trip outside. With her cute little-girl lisp, she said, "These are my guns and this is my ammunition!"

And, Tash, for the record, the Red Sox are superior.

Behold the beauty of Cape Cod 

A Weekend Away

Nate and I have decided that, until we have children, Mother's Day and Father's Day would be Wive's Day and Husband's Day. On Wive's Day Nate surprised me by telling me he was taking me away for four days to Cape Cod! So last weekend we went!

When we arrived at the Beach and Towne Motel, which claimed to have wireless Internet access, we had a few difficulties. One of the main reasons Nate chose this place was for the wireless access. The Beach and Towne Motel was built in the 50's and I don't think anything has changed in decor since. And our noses told us that there had been some smoking in our room recently. We were still ready to give the place the benefit of the doubt. We pulled out the laptop and excitedly turned it on waiting for the light indicating a connection and...no light. So, Nate went to the office and after a few more adjustments and whatnot, they decided to move us into a room closer to the signal, gave us our key and wished us a lovely weekend. With hope in our hearts, we opened the door with bags in hand and...someone else's stuff was in the room. We backed out carefully and Nate, once again went to the office. The third time's the charm, right? Ummm, no. The third room still had no decent signal and this was even after someone came into our room to help us with it, trying everything that Nate had already tried and practically refusing to leave. When we finally got rid of him, we drove away, shaking the dust of this retro motel off our feet. Relaxing so far, eh? Off we went then, to Panera to use their wireless connection to research other places to stay. At this point I was afraid that we were never going to find lodging and that the whole weekend was shot. Never fear. We did find a place out in Wellfleet and the rest of the weekend was spent shopping in nifty little stores and sitting by the ocean, cameras in hand seeking out the perfect shots to have enlarged and used for decorating our living room.

There is nothing so soothing and relaxing and refreshing as sitting by the ocean listening to and watching the waves. My soul is revived.

Our new rose bush just starting to grow.  

Harold gave me these beautiful flowers today! 

Pieces of my day...

Georgia is 8 today and Connie is 19 today! Happy Birthday!

Amanda wanted me to tell you all this: "Mrs. Penny! Say Amanda fell down and she hurt she knee!"

Harold's contribution to my blog: "This morning I jumped out of bed and fell on the floor and then bounced up and played with toys. Then you came driving up and I went outside."

Not your typical Sunday evening...hopefully

Forgive me, those of you who were there, if my order of events is a little off.

The evening started as most Sunday evenings do around here with Andrea, Melissa and I in the den watching Extreme Makeover - Home Edition. A lot of the evening's events happened in my peripheral vision as we watched yet another deserving family get a beautiful home built for them, led by Ty.

Melissa was in and out doing stuff and in the corner of my eye, I saw Paul and TJ head downstairs to play Ping Pong. A few minutes later, I saw a troubled Amy head down with the phone. A few minutes passed and Melissa came in with the info that there was a stranger sitting in a car in front of the church. Paul was out talking with her and TJ went darting into the darkness with a Bowie knife. "Hmmm, that's weird," said I or Andrea or both. I can't remember. We just kept watching TV, still fairly oblivious to the drama.

Meanwhile, I guess Melissa and Amy were on the phone back and forth with Laurie who saw someone running outside in the dark (who we later found out was TJ with his knife) and that this woman was still there. Finally, she (Laurie) drove down to our house. At that point, Melissa finally got it through our heads that this was scary, so we clambered off of the couch as Laurie was coming in and wondering if we should call the police. It seemed to her that this woman was acting really weird as she was talking to Paul. I ran down to get Nate, but I must have jumbled things up in telling him what was going on, because all he heard me say was that there was a strange man wandering around the property. I ran back upstairs without waiting for him and Laurie was on the phone with the police explaining the situation to them.

Nate came up a few minutes later, charging through the door ready for action! When I re-explained what was going on he settled back down and went outside to investigate himself and Laurie went back home.

We were so nervous waiting for word from any of the men, imagining the worst. Finally, they all came back and Paul told us what was really happening. This poor woman had just lost her sister and was very sad and distraught. She was simply grieving and trying to find the church where her sister was married. Paul had a good talk with her though. He gave her a brief gospel message, but as he was talking, Grandpa yelled out to him, "DON'T WORRY, PAUL, LAURIE CALLED THE POLICE!!!!" Needless to say the poor woman didn't linger. Paul invited her to come back anytime, so I hope she does. She could really use our love and our prayers.

An Evening of Culture

All right, finally I'm updating. Part of why it has been a while, is that I've been sick for the past few days. I doubt you all want to hear about my runny nose, sinus pain, chills and mounds of used tissue beside the couch where I was huddled in misery. I also doubt you want to hear about the mounds of dishes and laundry that I have to take care of today as a result of being out of commission.

Last night, we had the pleasure of attending a concert! It was Connie's Senior Recital. She's the 18 year old in the family that I work for. This was the first time that most of the family met Nate! Harold just about jumped out of his skin with excitement when he saw us, and then he was super shy. For the first half, Georgia and Harold sat with us. Georgia and I had fun keeping time with our fingers and pretending that we were playing the piano. She also kept a running commentary up in my ear about all that I missed yesterday since I stayed home sick. Then, for the second half, Harold and Amanda sat with us. This time, Harold and I counted the songs until it was time for what he considered the best part of the night: The Food! We also kept a close eye on the stained glass windows getting darker and darker as the evening went on. What beautiful music, though! Connie played the viola, piano, and even sang Amazing Love with her mother. For those unfamiliar with the song, Kristi sings it on her CD. Some recitals can be long and boring, but this was a truly soul-refreshing experience. I'm so glad we went.

So, Brother Moon/Tash/Silas, you can get off my back about updating my blog!

Me and my li'l brudder! 

Baby Chicks and New Legs

I walked into the house for work today ready to get the kids going on cleaning and school work, and I was greeted with the sounds of chirping! No, the children weren't chirping. The baby chicks pictured on Silas' Blog, were all huddled together in a box under a lamp scrambling all over each other and chirping for all they were worth. So cute and fuzzy and fascinating to watch! And very loud, too! Harold, Prudence and Amanda kept pulling up chairs to stand on at the counter and watched them off and on through the day!

When we went outside today in the beautiful spring sunshine, Amanda kept begging me to push her. We've been trying to teach her to pump, which she can do if she puts her mind to it. So, I stood in front of her and told her that when she could reach me with her feet by pumping, I would push her for a while. Well, she struggled and struggled while her older sister Georgia on the next swing reached where I was with ease and said that it must be because her legs are longer. Amanda, still struggling, said, "Maybe Mommy can take me to the store to get me some longer legs!"

Our self portrait. We really have had a great day! 

Brad and Claire taking their self portrait with Narragansett Bay behind them. 

Go Red Sox!

My favorite commercial right now is actually a McDonald's commercial. I don't like their food very much, but this commercial makes me laugh with glee almost every time I see it!

There is a man with a Red Sox hat on sitting in his car at a red light. He is just calmly sitting there waiting for the light to change, when all of a sudden he starts yelling, "WOOHOO!" and pumping his fists victoriously! Then the announcer says, "Every once in a while it just hits you all over again. They won!" Then they go on with their ad. But I love that first part:
They won! Woohoo!

Just a couple of quotes from the day...

In the kitchen at work, I was bustling around making several young children some cheese toast when Amanda piped up with her four year old lisp, "Mrs. Penny! You're our teacher and our toaster!"

Walking along the driveway next to a huge puddle today, I commented to Harold who is six, "Powerful wet stuff!" Without missing a beat, he piped back, "Couldn't have said it better myself, chief!"

Spring Has Sprung...mostly

As you can see from the pictures, the children and I enjoyed the weather yesterday! Hooray for warmth and for sunshine. I love spring! As I'm sure you've seen from Nate's blog, we even have crocuses--or croci-- whatever the plural is for crocus, we have them!
The other day the children's mom was fixing veal for their meal and we could smell it outside. Somehow, the subject came up that veal came from "dead baby cows." Grace, who is 9, said with dismay, "Veal really comes from dead baby cows?" I said with compassion, "yes it does."
She said, "No wonder it tastes so good!"

"Gonna take a walk outside today..." 

From left to right, Georgia, Grace, Harold and Amanda enjoying their new slide and the warm weather!